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Thursday, 7 July 2016

prejudice

I hear a kid shouting and talking in a foreign language but as soon as I'm in sight, there is silence. Their eyes are riveted to me; wherever I go, their eyes follow. All of the children make a path for me. Soon the kids start talking and shouting again. That doesn't stop me thinking I'm being watched. The wet wood of the seat soaks through the fabric of my pants. The smell of warm noodles wafts through the air into my nose. I wish I had some of those.

I believe New Zealand has an unknown problem. 10% of the migrants that come to NZ feel discriminated against. 55% of these feel this way because because of their skin colour, nationality or race.

Prejudice is where you judge someone before you get to know them. Lots of the time it begins with sexism, racism, gender stereotyping and more. For example, a lady from Iran came to NZ in the middle of a war in Iran. When she went to school, she was asked if she had a bomb in her lunchbox. The same lady, in her later life, was working in a cafe and people came and asked where she was from. When she said Iran, they all bowed their head and wanted nothing to do with her. The effect is it makes the people who are being prejudged feel bad. Some of the causes are movies, books and social media.

There are many ways to help immigrants feel welcome, from smiling through to making a migrant advice service. When you see someone who you think looks excluded, lonely or isolated, make a conversation. Keep on smiling. Try to get to know them. Start inviting them to parties and introducing him or her to your friends. The effect is he or she feels more included and more confident around you. Some other ways are to let him or her join a club. This will help them find more friends. Also treat him or her as equally as all your friends. The effect is they feel better and you feel awesome too!

Some of the things that make people feel unwanted or unwelcome:

Sniggering

Whispering

Pointing

Laughing

The effect is that migrant will feel unwelcome.

If we don't change our actions in future some people will hate each other for their race. The world will not live in unity, but will be split into groups of different skin colour , Muslims, other religions; the list goes on and on. We need to stop prejudice so we can live in a world where it doesn't matter what color skin people have and remember that the smallest actions make a change for the better.